Worker Productivity Is Up
Despite Economic Slump

For the first time in a generation, American workers became significantly more productive in the past year even as the economy itself was sinking.

The Labor Department reported that nonfarm labor productivity, or output per hour worked, grew at a seasonally adjusted 3.5% annual rate during the final three months of 2001 and at a 2.3% rate in the nine months from the start of the recession in March. The aggressive corporate cost-cutting that accelerated after Sept. 11 appears to have helped companies be more productive,...